


Collar

by TiedyedTrickster



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dom/Sub/Switch, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, I blame AgentMalkere for everything, heart punching, in which kinky is ignored in favor of culture, sub!Hinata, switch!Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 11:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8370313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiedyedTrickster/pseuds/TiedyedTrickster
Summary: No one will ever give her a collar. It’s one of the very few things Hinata Hyuuga is certain of in her life.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AgentMalkere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMalkere/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Safety in the Storm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8366689) by [AgentMalkere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentMalkere/pseuds/AgentMalkere). 



> Set in the same universe as AgentMalkere's fic Safety in the Storm, this fic mixes D/s dynamics with a touch of A/B/O dynamics (mainly the genetic factor) with the odd touch that is Malk's own special brand of insanity.

No one will give her a collar. It’s one of the very few things Hinata Hyuuga is certain of in her life. She is an inferior shinobi, she is a bad sub, and no one will ever give her a collar. She should have been born second, none of this would matter as much if she had been born second, if she hadn’t been born the heir of the main branch. Sometimes she wishes she could trade lives with her cousin Neji so badly it hurts. Neji is everything she is supposed to be – a prodigy, a dom, a confident shinobi. Everything she’s supposed to be as the heir, everything she should _want_ to be. But- but she doesn’t. She really, really doesn’t. She wants a collar on her neck, and a firm, gentle hand on her left ear, and a quiet strength to protect the ones she loves. She makes the mistake of telling her father this once.

That’s the day she finds out that, not only is she a sub, she’s a bad one. Because if she can’t be a dom naturally, she should at least _want_ to be one, work to be one anyway. But she can’t, she _can’t_ , her dynamic’s too strong, and worse, she doesn’t want to. And so the knowledge settles into her stomach like a stone amongst the other stones of bitter truth that make up her life, and she retreats into herself whenever she can.

Graduation day from the academy is bitter-sweet, because she’s managed to fool them all; no one realizes that she’s a bad sub, that she’s useless. And- and she gets her hitae-ate. The sun glints on the metal, shiny silver, almost like a name tag. Almost like- She swallows hard, glances around briefly to make sure no one is watching, then ties the forehead protector loosely around her neck. She’s been given this by the village, after all, and shinobi are meant to serve the village, and- and that’s almost the same, right? It’s not like it will ever be a problem or a conflict. After all, no one will ever give her a collar. And the weight of it around her neck soothes something in her, something deep. That night she even manages to close five of her sparring partner’s tenketsu points during practice, and her father does not comment on the placement of her hitae-ate. Maybe he doesn’t care. She doesn’t care.

(She cares so much sometimes she cries at night, but there’s nothing she can do about it).

 

OoOoOoOoO

 

“Hey!”

Hinata looks up to see Naruto approaching. Naruto. The sight of him makes her happy, it has since she first saw him when she was little. People had been angry at him, shouting, chasing… and he had been laughing. Laughing and running and brave, brave, brave, and after that she had begun to look for him. And he had been everywhere, slipping in the cracks and the corners, and usually- usually alone. Sometimes (often) she wished she was brave, too, because the adults say that Naruto is bad but she is also bad, and maybe it would be easier… easier for them both… But she never approaches him, not until right before the chunin exams when she wishes him luck. He’d been wearing a grass collar that day (she’s seen him making them, when he thinks no one’s looking – sometimes he presents them proudly to a nearby rock or tree, sometimes he wears them himself, tearing them off again at whim), and Kurenai had been so nice to her earlier that day…

He had smiled at her.

He had said he liked people like her.

She had almost broken down into tears when he said that, and later she had almost killed herself fighting her cousin, because, for once, Naruto had been watching her, had been cheering for her, telling her to get back up, and she had wanted to impress him, obey him, with every fiber of her being she had wanted to win, not for herself, but for him.

It’s been years since then – she’s sixteen now, they both are. Her team – Kurenai and Shino and Kiba – have taught her so much since then, have done their best to convince her that she’s a good person, and that it’s completely natural for a sub to want to be and behave like a sub, but it’s hard to forget the words she’s been told since she was old enough to understand ‘dynamic.’ But- she’s doing better. And Naruto- Naruto is being seen, at last, by everyone, seen for what he is instead of what they expect him to be. And Hinata’s happy for him, though she wishes… wishes she had been able to talk to him when they were both small, when they both needed it so much. (But she had seen him. Even if he doesn’t know, even if no one else ever knows… she saw him when he was invisible, when no one else did, and that will always be hers, a little ball of light floating above the stones in her stomach.) He has more friends now; he doesn’t need her.

But he’s still standing in front of her, fidgeting and nervous and wearing another of his grass collars. He seems to feel her gaze on it, because he starts, then reaches up and pulls it roughly off. “Right, right, I shouldn’t have this on-”

“No!” the word pops out of her, involuntary as the aborted hand-grab at her hitae-ate (at her own collar), and Naruto starts a bit. Hinata turns red and looks away, pressing her fingertips together. “I mean- you don’t have to. I know you like wearing them sometimes. It’s okay, I don’t mind.” The bright green goes well with all the other vivid colours that combine to form him.

Naruto- Naruto is quiet for a moment. Like he’s not sure how to take that entirely or- perhaps he hadn’t realized she knew? Perhaps he’s embarrassed, she shouldn’t have- but he coughs and grins at her before she can get too worked up. “Nah, I didn’t mean it like that, I meant, uh. I meant, I probably shouldn’t be wearing one for- for- um.” He swallows hard, turns pink, then thrusts both his hands out in front of him. “I-was-wondering-if-you-would-go-out-with-me!”

Hinata stares. Naruto’s words are full of confusing implications and his hands… his hands are full of flowers, daisies, not a bouquet, a loop, but too small for a crown-

Hinata’s hands fly to her mouth and her knees give out.

Naruto instantly panics. “Oh no, did I do it wrong?! I did it wrong, didn’t I, was this too forward, I mean, I know it’s just a date, but it’s not a _collar_ collar, ‘cause those are serious, but I _am_ serious and I wanted you to know and I thought this would be a good way and…” he peters out, dejected and worried. “Are you mad at me?”

She can’t talk. All her stones have jumped up and lodged in her throat, and her little ball of light is glowing so bright it feels like she must be glowing, but she can’t talk and Naruto needs an answer… With fumbling fingers, she carefully reaches up and unties her hitae-ate, then gathers her hair and holds it away from her neck, inviting.

It takes Naruto a moment to figure out what she’s asking, what she’s offering, but when he does his entire face lights up, and he kneels down to carefully fasten the flower collar around her neck.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I just spent four days talking about the potential culture of this world with Malkere and, dammit, I am WEAK to culture!


End file.
